


Believe

by sanctuary_for_all



Series: Lifeline [6]
Category: The Brave (TV 2017)
Genre: Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Future Fic, Kid Fic, with some feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-03
Updated: 2018-02-03
Packaged: 2019-03-13 00:32:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13558881
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctuary_for_all/pseuds/sanctuary_for_all
Summary: Eleven years later, the girl who no one wanted and the boy who thought he’d die alone find a very different future for themselves. (Future fic)





	Believe

**Author's Note:**

> So people are probably sick of my fic for these two, right? I promise, after this I'll keep it to my hard drive.

Jaz had grown up determined to never get married, seeing it as the trap that had sucked the life out of her mother or the one thing her father thought she was good for. Her certainty that she'd never have kids was quieter, borne of the unspoken fear that she'd be as bad at raising children as her own parents had been.

That thought seemed a thousand miles away as she curled her body around her three-year-old daughter's and told her a bedtime story.

"Do the wolf one, Mommy," Maia said eagerly, cuddling close. She'd done the exact same thing hundreds of times, maybe even thousands, and it still made Jaz's chest tighten with a fierce sweetness that stole her breath a little bit. "The one with the wolf and the girl and the big scary woods."

"You sure you don't want another one tonight?" Jaz asked softly, smoothing her daughter's dark hair back. "You hear that one a lot."

"It's one of my mostest favorites," she announced cheerfully, smiling up at her mother. It humbled Jaz, that she and Adam could have produced a child this sweet and full of light. "Tell me again, please?"

"Of course." Jaz looked back at the bedroom doorway out of the corner of her eye, making sure she could see the faint sliver of a girl hiding almost completely beyond the edge of the frame. Elizabeth Cortez – at least according to the paperwork – had been there the last three nights, trying to pretend she wasn't listening, and Jaz decided now was the time to take a risk. "But since your daddy got called into work, I need someone to help me make the wolf noises." A brief pause. "Think you could help me with that, B?"

She could practically feel the girl startle, even from all the way in the hallway, but Maia immediately reached out for her. "Yes! Come on!" She made grabby hands towards the doorway. "We can both growl! It's fun!"

Slowly, the dark-haired 12-year-old stepped into view, her customary wary expression softened into something more hesitant. She smiled at Maia, small and private, then looked at Jaz. “You don’t have to do this,” she said quietly, her whole face serious.

Jaz could translate all too easily. _You don’t have to pretend to like me. You don’t have to include me in family stuff. We both know this is just temporary_.

She just smiled, scooting both her and Maia over a little further and patting the other side of the bed. Some things, she knew, took time to believe in. “Who says anything about have to?”

Maia, clearly not content with even that, started pushing her blankets down to make room. “Come on! Mommy can tuck you in, too!”

Elizabeth hesitated again, surprise and something that looked a little like fear flickering across her face. Then, just as slowly, she laid down in the space Jaz and Maia had just made. When Maia started pulling the blankets back up over her, Jaz helping the process, Elizabeth looked like she might burst into tears for a second before she wrestled her expression back into place.

“Good,” Maia said, satisfied as only a three-year-old can sound. She moved Elizabeth’s arm so it was around her, waited until Jaz’s arm was around her as well, and snuggled back down. “Story time, please.”

Jaz watched Elizabeth for a moment, who was looking down at the arm Maia had just moved like she still couldn’t quite understand what was happening. “Do you know when to do the wolf sounds?” she asked.

Elizabeth looked at her, startled, then slowly nodded. Maia asked for the wolf story most nights, so depending on how long she’d been listening at the door she might have heard it several times already.

Jaz nodded back, adjusted the arm propping her head up into a slightly more comfortable position, and started the story. “Once upon a time, there was a little girl who was all alone in the world. She spent most of her time wandering out in the woods, climbing trees and talking to animals and sleeping underneath the bushes. Then, one day, she met a wolf.”

Maia shifted around so she could look up at Elizabeth. “It’s okay, B. He’s not a bad wolf. He’s a nice wolf.”

Elizabeth smiled down at Maia, wider this time. “I know.” She glanced over at Jaz, hesitant again. “I like this story.”

Jaz smiled. “Me, too.” She smoothed Maia’s hair back again, then did the same to Elizabeth’s. The girl startled but didn’t pull away, and Jaz’s chest clenched again as she continued. “All of the other animals said this wolf was mean, and scary, but the girl knew that real meanness meant you wanted to hurt others. And this wolf just stayed a little away from the other animals, watching them, and so one day she went up to him. The wolf growled at the girl—” She paused long enough to let Elizabeth growl “—but instead of being scared the girl growled right back at him.” Jaz gave her own growl, making Maia giggle the same way it always did. Even Elizabeth smiled again, just a little. “Now, the wolf was surprised at this, because all of the other animals just ran away whenever….”

000

When Adam got home, he immediately followed the sound of Jaz’s voice back to Maia’s bedroom. They’d decided early on that the bedtime story would be mostly Jaz’s territory, since he got Maia so much of the day, but he’d always been welcome to listen in and sometimes contribute a growl or howl whenever it was needed.

The sight of the two people he loved most in the world cuddling together always made his chest clench, but this time it stole his breath a little bit as well. Because Elizabeth was there as well, underneath the blankets with an arm around Maia, both girls nearly sound asleep. Elizabeth, who still had the $60 she’d stolen from them and a bunch of food she’d hoarded tucked into a secret spot in the closet like a go bag.

Adam had left it all where it was, not wanting to take that safety net away from her, but in his head he counted every single day she didn’t use it. She’d already been here two weeks longer than she had at any of the other foster homes, an increasingly long list of incidences of running away that had left the agency despairing of getting her placed at all. That was when Adam and Jaz had agreed to take her, the first kid they’d brought into the house for more than a temporary emergency situation, and every day Adam was more and more certain she was supposed to stay.

Tonight, the girl and wolf were just wrapping up a rescue mission saving a bunch of sheep from what sounded suspiciously like a carefully edited version of a slaughterhouse. The adventures the two went on changed with the night – he’d heard at least a hundred variations by this point – but a few things never changed. The girl was never scared of the wolf, the wolf never left the girl alone, and the two always ended up best friends and partners.

He could hear the story a million times, a million different ways, and never get tired of it.

Tonight, Jaz was just murmuring the last few lines about the girl and the wolf going to some sort of dance party with the sheep as she slipped out of Maia’s small bed. She stood there for a moment, silent, and when neither girl even shifted she smiled at him and gestured him forward with her head.

Adam moved over silently, bending down and pressing a kiss against his daughter’s hair, when she opened her eyes. “Daddy.” She smiled, voice a whisper. “Did everybody get saved?”

He smiled back at her. “Yeah,” he whispered. He’d been on the DIA’s books as a “consultant” ever since he’d officially retired from the army, and while that mostly translated into being a stay-at-home dad he sometimes got called in at odd hours. Maia, who still had two adopted uncles and an aunt on tour in Turkey and knew her mother spent her days teaching other soldiers how to shoot better, already seemed comfortable with the idea. Preach said it was because he and Jaz were raising her right, but Adam was more inclined to believe that it was just one more way he’d gotten so damn lucky.

“Good.” Still smiling, she closed her eyes. “Have nice dreams.”

“You, too, baby,” he whispered, throat tight with love. He smoothed her hair back, then leaned over and very carefully placed a light kiss against Elizabeth’s hair as well. She shifted, lips flickering upward in a brief smile, but didn’t open her eyes.

Adam straightened, meeting Jaz’s eyes, and saw on her face the echo of everything he was feeling. They stepped silently out of the room, leaving the door open a little so Elizabeth wouldn’t feel trapped, and made their way to the kitchen.

“Patricia wants to know if you two can get dinner some time this week,” he said quietly, leaning back against the counter. “She feels like she hasn’t talked to you in forever.”

Jaz’s lips curved upward. “Things must have _really_ worked out okay, then, if Patricia is thinking about me instead of the million different Director things she has to worry about.” She stepped closer, sliding her arms around his middle as she leaned against him. “I’ll call her tonight, if she’s still awake.”

“She will be.” Adam wrapped his arms around his wife, resting his cheek against her hair. He wished, sometimes, that he could go back in time and tell his 20-year-old self that all of this was coming. He wouldn’t have believed it – hell, his 30-year-old self wouldn’t have believed it – but it might have given him some hope. “But not for a few more minutes.”

Jaz tightened her hold just a little more. “ _Definitely_ not for a few more minutes.” Then she sighed, and when she spoke again her voice was solemn. “We’re keeping her, right?”

Adam closed his eyes, grateful all over again that someone like Jaz had chosen to be his partner. “If she’ll let us.”

Jaz relaxed at that, settling against him that much more fully. “She will. She just can’t quite let herself believe in it yet.” She shifted enough to press a gentle kiss against the crook of his neck. “I know what that’s like,” she said softly.

Adam’s throat tightened again. “Yeah,” he whispered. “Me, too.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come check out my [original fiction,](https://jennifferwardell.wixsite.com/mybooks) my [blog,](http://jennifferwardell.blogspot.com) or say hi to me on [Tumblr](http://sanctuaryforalluniverses.tumblr.com)!


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